First Edition: Friday, Oct. 11, 2024

KFF Health News: Abortion Emerges As Most Important Election Issue For Young Women, Poll Finds
Abortion has emerged as the most important issue in the November election for women under 30, according to a survey by KFF — a notable change since late spring, before Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race. Nearly 4 in 10 women under 30 surveyed in September and early October told pollsters that abortion is the most important issue to their vote. Just 20% named abortion as their top issue when KFF conducted a similar survey in late May and early June. (Wayne and Adams, 10/11)

KFF Health News: Extended-Stay Hotels, A Growing Option For Poor Families, Can Lead To Health Problems For Kids
As principal of Dunaire Elementary School, Sean Deas has seen firsthand the struggles faced by children living in extended-stay hotels. About 10% of students at his school, just east of Atlanta, live in one. The children, Deas said, often have been exposed to violence on hotel properties, exhibit aggression or anxiety from living in a crowded single room, and face food insecurity because some hotel rooms don’t have kitchens. (Miller and Rayasam, 10/11)

KFF Health News: Colorado’s Naloxone Fund Is Drying Up, Even As Opioid Settlement Money Rolls In
On a bustling street corner one recent afternoon outside the offices of the Harm Reduction Action Center, employees of the education and advocacy nonprofit handed out free naloxone kits to passersby. Distributing the opioid reversal medication is essential to the center’s work to reduce fatal overdoses in the community. But how long the group can continue doing so is in question. (Cleveland, 10/11)

KFF Health News: Watch: Biggest Dangers And Health Concerns From Hurricane Milton
KFF Health News' Céline Gounder shares advice on how to prepare before a hurricane. (Gounder, 10/10)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Yet Another Promise For Long-Term Care Coverage
As part of her presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris has rolled out a plan for Medicare to provide in-home long-term care services. The proposal would fill a longtime need for families trying to simultaneously care for young children and older parents, but its enormous price tag makes it a promise unlikely to be fulfilled. (Rovner, 10/10)

Newsweek: Against The Odds, Hospitals Are Getting Safer
Hospitals are performing better on quality and safety metrics than they did pre-pandemic, despite seeing sicker patients—and more of them. That's according to a new report from the American Hospital Association and Vizient, a health care performance improvement company. The organizations analyzed data from Vizient's Clinical Data Base, which contains information from more than 1,300 hospitals and collects data on more than 10 million inpatients and 180 million outpatients each year. (Kayser, 10/10)

CIDRAP: Understaffed Hospitals Have Higher Rates Of Infection
A lack of infection prevention and control staffing leads to more healthcare-associated infections, according to a new study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study is based on a new online calculator aimed at providing facility-specific recommendations for infection prevention staffing instead of a standard infection preventionists (IPs) per inpatient bed. (Soucheray, 10/10)

CIDRAP: WHO Report Elevates Role Of Vaccines In Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that new and existing vaccines could have a substantial impact on the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Released today, the WHO report estimates that the introduction and deployment of 44 vaccines against 24 pathogens could avert more than half a million deaths from drug-resistant infections annually, cut AMR-related healthcare costs and productivity losses by billions of dollars, and reduce the number of antibiotics needed to treat infections by 2.5 billion doses annually. (Dall, 10/10)

NPR: Politicians Say Health Plans Should Cover IVF. Currently Only 1 In 4 Employers Do
One round of in vitro fertilization or IVF can cost you around $20,000 (or more). It's a multi-step process that involves retrieving eggs from ovaries, fertilizing them in a lab, watching the embryos develop, and then transferring them into the uterus. For those who are lucky enough to get pregnant and have a baby, it can take several cycles to get there. It’s so expensive that access to insurance coverage for IVF is basically access, period. (Simmons-Duffin, 10/10)

The Hill: Most Americans Back IVF Coverage, Poll Reveals
Most Americans support legislation requiring insurance companies to cover infertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a poll released Thursday. The survey, sponsored by Americans for IVF and shared first with The Hill, found 70 percent of respondents would back a bill requiring private companies to cover the treatments, which can often cost tens of thousands of dollars. (Weixel, 10/10)

North Carolina Health News: Storm Damage Increases Barriers To Abortion Access In WNC
Planned Parenthood’s Asheville clinic, the only abortion provider in western North Carolina, is temporarily closed because of damage inflicted by the remnants of Hurricane Helene — taxing an already strained environment of abortion access. Helene, which brought historic rainfalls to western North Carolina, tore a path of destruction across the region. Buncombe, the most populous county in western North Carolina and home to the city of Asheville, was among the hardest hit. At least 72 people died. (Crumpler, 10/11)

The New York Times: How Back-To-Back Hurricanes Harm Mental Health
As Hurricane Milton battered Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday, Chloe Ottani followed the news with horror from her parents’ Connecticut home. She had just evacuated her apartment at the University of Tampa for the second time in two weeks. Ms. Ottani and other students were evacuated on Tuesday as Milton morphed into a Category 5 storm. The mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor, warned that day that those who remained in evacuation zones were “going to die.” (Schmall, 10/10)

Newsweek: Hurricane Milton Aftermath Triggers Deadly Bacteria Warning
Floridians are at an increased risk of "life-threatening" bacterial infections in the wake of Hurricane Milton, state health officials have warned. Residents have been urged to avoid floodwaters as the department continues to monitor and respond to health risks posed by this year's hurricane season. Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm along Florida's Gulf Coast. As of 5 a.m. ET on Thursday morning, the National Weather Service has warned of "life-threatening" storm surges along the east coasts of Florida and Southern Georgia as well as heavy rainfall across Northern and Central Florida. (Dewan, 10/10)

AP: Milton Spares Daytona Beach, Florida, IV Fluids Factory
A Florida factory that makes IV fluids critical to hospitals nationwide will restart Friday morning after shutting down while Hurricane Milton tore through the state. B. Braun Medical’s manufacturing site and distribution center in Daytona Beach were not seriously impacted by the hurricane, said company spokesperson Allison Longenhagen. No injuries to employees have been reported. The company, with help from the federal government, had moved more than 60 truckloads of IV solutions inventory north of Florida before the storm. Longenhagen said that they will be returned to the distribution site. (Murphy, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: IV Fluid Shortage Affecting 88% Of Providers: Premier
Almost 90% of providers are experiencing an IV fluid shortage due to the temporary closure of Baxter's North Carolina plant, according to a survey from group purchasing organization Premier. The survey conducted Monday and Tuesday found 88% of 257 providers surveyed said they were receiving less than half their requested IV fluid orders. The Baxter plant in Marion, North Carolina, which produces 60% of the IV solutions used daily, was shut down Sept. 29 due to Hurricane Helene and sustained damage. (DeSilva, 10/10)

The New York Times: Millions Are Without Power After Milton Tore Through Florida
Hurricane Milton carved an uneven path of destruction across Florida. It maintained hurricane-strength winds from its landfall on the Gulf Coast last night until its exit this morning into the Atlantic Ocean. Coastal neighborhoods were swallowed by storm surge, inland towns were flooded with rain and nearly three million homes and businesses — about a quarter of the state — remain without power. The storm also caused several intense tornadoes on Florida’s Atlantic coast that killed at least five people, including some in a retirement community. (Cullen, 10/10)

AP: Harris Rips Trump For His Criticism Of Federal Storm Response And Calls For 'Dignity'
Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House criticized Donald Trump for his attacks on the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton and suggested he was wrongly trying to turn the deadly storms to his political advantage. Attending a town hall sponsored by Univision in Las Vegas, Harris was asked about complaints that federal officials have bungled disaster recovery efforts. She responded, “In this crisis — like in so many issues that affect the people of our country — I think it so important that leadership recognizes the dignity” to which people are entitled. (Weissert, Volmert and Superville, 10/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Warren Toughens Private-Equity Bill, Aiming To Prevent Healthcare Abuses
A group of Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposed new restrictions on private-equity firms, saying tougher rules are needed to prevent buyout firms from “looting” the businesses they own in the wake of hospital operator Steward Health Care System’s bankruptcy. On Thursday, six senators and eight U.S. representatives announced the Stop Wall Street Looting Act of 2024, an updated version that puts more teeth in a measure Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has pushed since 2019. (Cumming, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: The Biden Healthcare Regulations At Risk If Trump Wins
If former President Donald Trump returns to the White House next year, he's likely to revive policies President Joe Biden repealed and eliminate some of the Democrat's own initiatives, shifting the healthcare system to the right. Trump hasn’t been forthcoming about healthcare during the campaign, his policy platform doesn’t feature specifics and he confessed during his debate last month with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, to having mere "concepts of a plan" for healthcare. (Early, 10/10)

AP: Social Security Recipients Will Get 2.5% COLA Boost In 2025
Millions of Social Security recipients will get a 2.5% cost-of-living increase to their monthly checks beginning in January, the Social Security Administration announced Thursday. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees translates to an average increase of more than $50 for retirees every month, agency officials said. About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, get Social Security benefit. But even before the announcement, retirees voiced concern that the increase would not be enough to counter rising costs. (Hussein, 10/10)

Reuters: Judge Slashes $185 Mln Award For Law Firm Quinn Emanuel In US Healthcare Case
A U.S. judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday cut in half a $185 million legal fee payout for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, awarding the law firm $92.4 million for its work on a multibillion-dollar federal healthcare insurance case. Judge Kathryn Davis of the U.S. Federal Claims Court said the reduced amount was a reasonable reward for Quinn Emanuel, a top U.S. business litigation firm. Quinn was awarded $185 million for its work on the case in 2021, but a federal appeals court last year struck down the award as excessive and ordered Davis to reconsider it. (Scarcella, 10/11)

Reuters: US Health Agency Releases 2025 Quality Ratings For Medicare Plans
The U.S. government announced quality ratings for 2025 Medicare health and prescription drug plans on Thursday, the first indication of which large health insurers, including CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group and Humana, will get bonus payments in 2026. Sixty-two percent of people currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs are covered by plans rated four or more stars, the Medicare agency said in its release, down from 74% last year. (Niasse, 10/11)

Modern Healthcare: Aetna, UnitedHealth Fall In 2025 Medicare Advantage Ratings
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sought to make it more challenging for Medicare Advantage insurers to win top quality scores and the payment bonuses that go along with them. It's working. On Thursday, CMS released the latest Medicare Advantage star ratings, and the contrast to just a few years ago is stark. In 2022, 74 Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage contracts garnered five-out-of-five stars. For the 2025 plan year, only seven did. (Tepper and Broderick, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Merger Rule Updating Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Form Finalized
Healthcare companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions will be required to submit additional information about their proposals under a final rule approved by the Federal Trade Commission Thursday. The final rule amends the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act form, which had not been updated for 46 years. When the rule goes into effect, likely early next year, healthcare companies involved in M&A proposals must list acquisitions that occurred within the last five years, disclose private equity and minority stakeholders with decision-making authority and report supplier relationships shared by the merging parties to the FTC, among other requirements. (Kacik, 10/10)

USA Today: CDC: Experiencing Racism In School Impacts Mental Health
Students who experienced racism said their mental health also deteriorated, a new study showed. In 2023, nearly a third of high school students across the U.S. said they'd experienced racism in school, which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who published the findings defined as unfair treatment due to a person's race or ethnicity. Students of color reported they'd had two to three times more racist experiences than white students who said they'd had. (Cuevas, 10/10)

AP: BrucePac Recalls Nearly 10 Million Pounds Of Meat For Listeria
A company is recalling nearly 10 million pounds of meat and poultry products made at an Oklahoma plant because they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria that can cause illness and death. BrucePac of Woodburn, Oregon, recalled the roughly 5,000 tons of ready-to-eat foods this week after U.S. Agriculture Department officials detected listeria in samples of poultry during routine testing. Further tests identified BrucePac chicken as the source. The recall includes 75 meat and chicken products. (Aleccia, 10/10)

Axios: Swing Recall: Fisher-Price Recalls 2.1 Million Snuga Swings After 5 Babies Died
More than 2 million Fisher-Price Snuga Swings were recalled following the deaths of five infants over a decade. State of play: Suffocation risks prompted the recall, and customers are told to remove parts of the swing before continuing to use it for "awake-time activities" only. (Rubin, 10/10)

Newsweek: Warehouses Drive Air Pollution Spike In California, NASA Study Finds
Warehouses in Southern California have been linked with increased pollution in a study that used NASA satellites to map toxic particles in the air. As warehouses were built over the last two decades to keep up with online shopping, air pollution rose too—particularly affecting low-income neighborhoods nearby. Scientists identified diesel trucks visiting the warehouses as the source of the problem, because of contaminants emitted by their exhaust fumes as they visit to pick up and drop off goods. (Willmoth, 10/10)

Reuters: More Than 15 Million US Adults Have ADHD, New Study Estimates
Roughly 15.5 million U.S. adults have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and most of them struggle with gaining access to treatment for the condition, according to data from a U.S. study released on Thursday. Only about one-third of those reporting a diagnosis of ADHD said they had received a prescription for a stimulant drug used to treat it in the previous year, researchers reported in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Singh, 10/10)

Newsweek: Neurons Different In Children With Autism, Study Finds
Children with autism have different brains than children without autism, down to the structure and density of their neurons, according to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York, published in Autism Research in September. "People with a diagnosis of autism often have other things they have to deal with, such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD," said first author Dr. Zachary Christensen, of the University of Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry, in a statement. (Willmoth, 10/10)

The Washington Post: Parkinson’s Is Often Misdiagnosed. New Tests May Change That
One in four people are told they have a different condition before receiving the correct Parkinson’s diagnosis, one poll reported. On the other side, nearly 42 percent of people are initially misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, according to studies. The lack of a definite lab or imaging test is one reason for these errors, some experts said. The diagnosis is currently based on a visual clinical exam in which a physician looks for motor symptoms such as slowed movement, tremor or rigidity. (Kim, 10/10)

Reuters: Denali-Sanofi Scraps Mid-Stage Study For Multiple Sclerosis Drug
Denali Therapeutics (DNLI.O) said on Thursday its partner Sanofi (SASY.PA) has discontinued a mid-stage study testing their experimental drug to treat multiple sclerosis as it failed to meet the main and secondary study goals. ... The drug candidate, oditrasertib, co-developed by Sanofi and Denali, had failed to meet the main goal another mid-stage study testing it as a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurodegenerative disease. (10/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Can We Prevent Cancer With A Shot?
Researchers are making progress toward vaccines that train healthy people’s immune systems to eliminate signs of cancer before it develops. Vaccines are in early trials for people with inherited genetic mutations that put them at a greater risk. Other shots are designed to destroy precancerous lesions to stop full-blown disease. (Abbott, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: Microsoft, Epic Partner On AI Tool To Reduce Nursing Burnout
Microsoft is adding new artificial intelligence tools for healthcare customers, the big tech company announced Thursday. The company said it has partnered with electronic health record vendor Epic Systems along with several health systems to build an ambient AI solution that will allow nurses to efficiently document in the electronic health record. It was important for the company to create a solution that’s differentiated from the numerous physician-centric AI documentation tools, said Mary Varghese Presti, vice president of portfolio evolution and incubation at Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, during a briefing with reporters. (Perna, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: Oak Street Health Expansion To Continue Amid CVS Review
CVS Health is moving ahead with expansion plans for Oak Street Health, even as the company reportedly considers a restructuring in the coming months. CVS is conducting a strategic review, according to media reports citing people familiar with the matter, and is weighing options for separating some of the company’s businesses, which include its retail pharmacy, insurance arm Aetna, pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark and primary care provider Oak Street. (Hudson, 10/10)

Reuters: Sanofi In Talks To Sell 50% Stake In Consumer Health Business To CD&R
Sanofi has entered into discussions with U.S. private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice to sell a controlling 50% stake in its consumer health business Opella, the French pharmaceutical group said on Friday. The announcement confirms an earlier Reuters report that it was closing in on a sale estimated at around 15 billion euros ($16.41 billion). Sanofi did not disclose any financial details of the potential deal and said further updates would be provided in due course. (10/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Activist Accuses Pfizer Of Pressuring Former Executives
The fight between Starboard Value and drug giant Pfizer took an unusual, bitter turn Thursday. Hours after two former top Pfizer executives said they would no longer participate in Starboard’s activist campaign, the investor accused the drugmaker of pressuring the executives to remain loyal to their longtime employer. (Hopkins and Thomas, 10/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Teva Pharmaceuticals To Pay $450 Million To Settle Kickback Allegations
Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $450 million to resolve allegations that the generic drug manufacturer submitted false claims and violated a federal law that prohibits the payment of kickbacks to generate federal healthcare business or induce patient referrals. The Justice Department on Thursday said the settlement amount was based on the company’s, whose U.S. headquarters is in Parsippany, N.J., ability to pay. As part of the settlement, there was no admission of wrongdoing on Teva’s part. (Hart, 10/10)

Reuters: J&J Talc Bankruptcy Stays In Texas Despite 'Forum-Shopping' Opposition
A Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) subsidiary can pursue its third attempt to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its talc products caused cancer in a federal bankruptcy court in Texas, a judge ruled on Thursday, allowing the company to avoid a venue that shot down its two previous efforts. (Knauth, 10/11)

Reuters: Bayer Must Pay $78 Million In Latest Roundup Cancer Trial, Jury Finds
Bayer (BAYGn.DE) must pay $78 million to a Pennsylvania man who said he got cancer from using the company's Roundup weedkiller, a state court jury in Philadelphia found on Thursday. The verdict follows previous consecutive victories for Bayer in that court. The company had won 14 of the previous 20 trials over Roundup, though it has been hit with several massive verdicts in the litigation, including last November for $1.56 billion, later reduced to $611 million, and one in January for $2.25 billion, later reduced to $400 million. (Pierson, 10/10)

Reuters: California Confirms Fourth Human Case Of Bird Flu
California on Thursday confirmed a fourth case of bird flu in a person who had contact with infected dairy cattle. Nationwide, 18 people this year have tested positive for the virus, which has been confirmed in dairy herds in 14 states. All but one of the people were known to be exposed to sick cattle or poultry. The four people who tested positive in California, the most populous U.S. state, were exposed to infected cows at four separate farms, the California Department of Public Health said. (10/10)

AP: North Dakota's Abortion Ban Will Remain On Hold During Court Appeal
North Dakota won’t be allowed to enforce its near total abortion ban while the state appeals a judge’s ruling that struck down the law. The latest decision by District Judge Bruce Romanick means that, for now, his September ruling stands while the state appeals it to the North Dakota Supreme Court. No abortion clinics have operated in North Dakota since the Red River Women’s Clinic moved from Fargo to nearby Moorhead, Minnesota, in 2022. (Dura, 10/10)